


Secret Jewish Santa

by patchfire, raving_liberal



Series: We Found It On Tumblr [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alive Finn Hudson, Best Friends, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Holidays, Inspired By Tumblr, Judaism, Kid Fic, M/M, Secret Santa, Tumblr: fuckurtadvent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 14:58:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5421353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchfire/pseuds/patchfire, https://archiveofourown.org/users/raving_liberal/pseuds/raving_liberal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s an important, grown-up secret (thank you, Jewish kids!).</p><p>For Fuckurt Advent Day 13.</p><p>Inspired by <a href="http://eccecorinna.tumblr.com/post/104754080788/kosherqueer-yall-youre-welcome-oh-man">this Tumblr post</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret Jewish Santa

The first time that his mother tells him about keeping the Santa secret, Puck is only four, everyone still calls him Noah, and he doesn’t really like any of the kids in his preschool class enough to talk to them about Hanukkah or Christmas. Still, Puck doesn’t say anything that year, in kindergarten, or in first grade, because his mom says it’s an important, grown-up secret, knowing that the Christmas-kids get presents from their parents and not a guy who is magic and lives on the North Pole. 

Puck figures even if he’d been a Christmas-kid, he would have figured out quick there’s no such thing as magic. 

By the time Hanukkah and Christmas come again and Puck’s in second grade, though, Puck and Finn are best friends and suddenly Puck has a reason he has to remember to keep the Santa secret. He even has information to give to Finn’s mom, and when he sleeps over the Friday after Thanksgiving, Puck gets about one minute to tell her when Finn goes to the bathroom during breakfast. 

“He only wrote it on his Santa letter, not the list he gave you, but he wants that big Bionicle set and an Xbox,” Puck blurts out quietly. 

Carole looks surprised. “Oh! Well, thank you, Noah. Does Finn know…”

“Mom told me when I was four how Jewish kids keep it a secret,” Puck says. 

“That’s so sweet,” Carole say, her face softening. 

“Finn really likes Christmas,” Puck starts to say, then he hears the bathroom door open, and he goes back to eating his waffles. When Finn comes over to spend the night three days after Christmas, talking about how Santa knew _just_ what he wanted, Puck has to turn his head to grin. 

By the next year, some of the Christmas-kids in their class don’t believe in Santa anymore, but Finn still does, so Puck makes sure to tell Carole what Finn wants—more Bionicle and the Harry Potter Legos—and then waits for Finn to call the day after Christmas. Puck answers it as soon as it rings, which makes his mom laugh for some reason. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey!” Finn says. “You wanna come over and play with my new Legos?”

“Yeah? You got new Legos?” Puck asks. “Which ones?” 

“The Harry Potter ones, plus some new Bionicles!”

Puck doesn’t have to hide how much he’s smiling, and he’s pretty sure this is what his mom means about patting yourself on the back. “Awesome! I’ll get Mom to drop me off.” 

Finn never mentions to Carole when he stops believing in Santa, which is fine with Puck. By sixth grade, he’s gotten used to figuring out what Finn wants the most, regardless of what Finn says, and passing it along to Carole. It doesn’t take that much work to figure out that this year, it’s an Xbox 360. 

Puck feels like he’s on pins and needles waiting for Finn to go shower the morning after Thanksgiving. 

“So you’re getting him an Xbox 360, right? So I can get him one of the games? ‘Cause Hanukkah starts on the twenty-fifth this year.” 

“Oh,” Carole says, her face falling. “Those are very expensive, aren’t they?”

“There’s one that doesn’t cost _as_ much,” Puck says. He’s pretty sure that while Finn knows how much they cost, he doesn’t really understand how expensive stuff is. Puck didn’t used to, either, but now that his dad’s gone, he does a little more. 

“Okay. Can you tell me which model and where to find it?” Carole asks, brightening somewhat.

“Yeah, I saw it in my mom’s newspaper yesterday,” Puck says. “We were looking for sales for on the LeapFrog stuff for Annie.” 

“Great. I’ll get a pen and write it down!” She pauses for a moment to give Puck a kiss on the forehead. “You’re such a sweet young man.”

Puck isn’t sure about that, but he doesn’t wipe his forehead in front of Carole, so he’s not totally rude, anyway. He waits until the third night of Hanukkah to give Finn _Madden NFL 06_ , so it doesn’t look too much like he knew Finn was getting the Xbox 360. 

Even sophomore year, Puck sends Carole a short text about what he thinks Finn wants. He doesn’t know if she paid any attention to it, but it’s what he does, and Finn needs something good especially right then. 

By the end of 2013, the two of them are in a dorm room minimally decorated with a tiny pre-lit Christmas tree and a battery-operated menorah. Puck knows Finn’ll head back to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with his mom, and Puck probably will crash their Christmas dinner like Finn suggested, but first Puck figures it’s his chance to _really_ keep the Santa secret. Christmas Eve morning isn’t exactly the traditional time for Santa, but after Finn’s asleep on December 23, Puck slides out of bed. 

It’s not a lot—one of those removable hooks, a small stocking that mostly has candy in it, and then a shiny gold envelope propped against the bottom of the stocking. Three sets of concert tickets and hotel reservations for each one, spread out over the first two-thirds of 2014, and sure, Puck’d known Finn’d been a little surprised at how dinky his Hanukkah presents had been, but hopefully Finn’ll understand now. 

Everything set up, Puck crawls back into bed and sets the alarm on Finn’s phone to play ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’ before going to sleep himself. When Finn’s alarm goes off, he sits bolt upright next to Puck.

“That’s weird,” Finn says. 

“What’s weird?” Puck asks, stretching his arms over his head. 

“I _so_ don’t remember setting that song as my alarm.”

Puck sits up slowly. “Maybe Santa Claus did.” 

Finn laughs. “He’s a day early, then.”

“Santa’s accommodating. He finds you where you are and all that,” Puck says, carefully _not_ looking in the direction of the stocking. 

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s not creepy at all,” Finn says, with another laugh. 

“At least your mom never had one of those elf dolls,” Puck says. “Maybe it snowed last night or something and that’s why Santa was a day early.” 

“You’re such a goofball,” Finn says. He swings his legs over the side of the bed, then says, “Hey! There’s a stocking!”

“Told you it was Santa.” 

“Yeah, Santa Puck, maybe.”

“Just because you never saw me filling stockings doesn’t mean a thing,” Puck says smugly. 

“Can I open it now?” Finn asks. “I don’t have to wait for tomorrow?”

“You’d better open it now!” 

“Okay, okay!” Finn says, standing up and taking the fews steps between the bed and the stocking. 

“Never actually got to watch this part,” Puck says, almost more to himself than Finn. 

Finn looks up from the stocking in his hands, grinning. “I never knew you wanted to.”

“Oh, there’s a _lot_ about Santa you never knew.” 

“Oh yeah?” Finn asks, reaching for the envelope that had been leaning on the stocking. 

“Mmmhmm. I’ll tell you after you finish seeing what Santa brought,” Puck says. He turns and sits cross-legged on the bed, facing Finn. 

Finn opens the envelope and turns it upside down, letting the tickets fall out. “Oh wow!” he says. “Puck, this is too much!”

Puck shrugs. “Just don’t expect it every year. I mean, I _would_ if I could, but like I said, first time I’ve actually gotten to see any results.” 

“Wow, this is amazing, Puck!” Finn says, immediately grabbing Puck and kissing him. “Thank you!”

“Merry Christmas,” Puck says, sliding his arm around Finn. “Didn’t you ever wonder how things showed up from Santa Claus when you’d only put them in your letter and not on the list for your mom?” 

“Not really,” Finn says. 

Puck laughs. “Of course you didn’t. You just trusted in some kind of holiday magic, huh?” 

“Well, yeah.”

“Please don’t start calling me that as a nickname,” Puck says wryly. “Even if I did make sure you got the Harry Potter Legos. And both Xboxes.” 

“That was all you?” Finn asks, kissing Puck again. “Awww, you’re like my magical Christmas elf!”

“I’m not an elf,” Puck says, then sighs, because compared to Finn, everyone’s elf-sized. “Like my mom told me when I was four, us Jewish kids have an important job, keeping the Santa secret.” 

“That’s, like, the _sweetest_ thing I have ever heard,” Finn says. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah,” Finn says. “I mean, you made all my Christmases awesome, and you never let me know until now!”

“I can take credit from here on out, I guess,” Puck says, leaning his head on Finn’s shoulder.

“If I’d known you were the one telling Mom what to get me, I might’ve figured it out sooner, you know,” Finn says. 

“Figured out Santa? You never did tell her when you stopped believing.”

“Nah,” Finn says, shaking his head. “Well, I mean, yeah, that _too_ , obviously, but I would’ve figured out me and you.”

“Yeah. Then you would have figured it out before me, even,” Puck says with a small smile. “I thought everyone wanted to make sure their best friend’s Christmas was perfect.” 

“I think you might’ve gone a little bit past most best friends.”

“Maybe. I liked knowing you had a good Christmas. Even, you know. If we weren’t talking,” Puck says. “Love you.” 

“Yeah, I love you, too, secret Jewish Santa,” Finn says. 

“There are worse things. You can buy me lots of gelt every year,” Puck says. 

Finn laughs. “I’d do that anyway, though.”

“Well, yeah. You know what the great thing about Christmas Eve morning Santa is?” 

“What?”

“After you find your stocking and what Jewish Santa brought, you get to go back to bed _with_ him.” 

“Merry Christmas Eve to _me_!” Finn says.


End file.
